Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 88: brought to you by dandruff

So, um...the two of us may have lost ten chapters. The ones between chapter 90 and 100...um...

_______________________________________________

Vincent became even more clingy after the birth of the babies. It may have been the shock of nearly losing her, or it was because of the uncharacteristically mean Harvey trying to separate him from Shay at every chance.

The conflict in general was exhausting enough for Shay when she had her health and didn't have fourteen mouths nursing on her nearly 24/7.

"Harvey, dude, seriously," she half sighed, half groaned from where she stood with Vincent clasped about her middle, short enough to pass as a large child clinging to his mom. Thankfully, the melon like biceps pressed against her stomach dispelled that image.

"Stop using her as a shield and fight me," snarled Harvey, the whites of his eyes finally returned to a light pink.

"Have you lost your mind? He'd slaughter you."

Harvey flinched, turning his hot eyes onto her.

"Shay, for once, please stay out of this. I know this isn't the way where you're from, but this is ours."

"Screw culture, we both know you're just itching to vent whatever on him. I already told you, I chose--"

"You chose as much as one can between jumping off a cliff or jumping into a fire!" he all out snarled.

Harvey had always been a safe and soft person for Shay. It was one of the reasons she had allowed herself to grow so close and fond of him.

It was because of this that seeing his fangs bared at her scared her more than Curtis and Ryan combined.

In a blink of an eye Vincent had her behind him and back into the hobbit hole, where she had just been trying to escape for some much needed sunbathing when Harvey had pounced.

"You will not yell at my mate," Vincent said lowly.

"Mate by force," Harvey said, equally low and furious. "And only until your young are weaned. Her other mates will kill you as soon as they see you."

A flutter of squeakings behind her made her groan out loud.

"No, stay asleep..." She was exhausted. The hollow, dead feeling inside of her found no peace in nursing her fuzzy, admittedly adorable young. She knew she should love them, she knew she wanted to and normally would, but she somehow found herself unable to feel anything besides tired, dull, and hopeless.

"Fine, I will fight you," said Vincent. "But then you must leave her be."

The door closed behind him and Shay fell face first into the fur rug before the fire, readying her famished stores of motivation to get up and nurse the babies.

She woke up to the door clicking shut and Vincent walking back in.

"The kits are crying for you," he said, ever gentle.

"I know, I just...I just fell asleep." Though how she did with their loud shrieking.

She pushed herself to her hands and knees, but Vincent was already besides her, putting the back of his fingers against her brow, frowning.

"I'm worried about you," he said.

Her gaze, however, was drawn to the long, deep gashes over his shoulder, slowly oozing blood.

"Oh no," she reached out, but her fingers only fluttered above it. "I'm sorry, I should have done more to stop him--"

His hand wrapped about hers.